Skip to main content
Home
  • Engage
  • Login
  • Store
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Vision & Values
    • Leadership & Experts
    • Job Opportunities
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact
  • Our Work
    • Our Work
    • Focus Areas
    • Mental Health First Aid
    • Public Policy
    • CCBHC
    • Consulting
    • Programs & Initiatives
    • Resources
  • Get Involved
    • Get Involved
    • Partner with Us
    • Be an Advocate
    • Mental Health First Aid
    • Find Members in Your Area
    • Donate
  • Membership
    • Membership
    • Membership Benefits
    • Become a Member
    • Current Members
  • News & Events
    • News & Events
    • Events
    • News
    • Blog
    • National Council Video Series
    • NatCon22
Home / Our Work / Programs & Initiatives / Getting Candid

About Us

Getting Candid
  • How to Get Started
  • Communication and Engagement
  • Youth-Focused Shareables
  • Implementation
  • On Demand Course
  • Events
  • About Us
  • Resource Library

Project Contributors

National Council for Mental Wellbeing

Lindsi DeSorrento, MPH, PMP
Senior Director of Operations, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Teresa Halliday, MA
Senior Advisor, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Linda Henderson-Smith, PhD, LPC, CPCS, CCMP
Former Senior Director, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Samantha Holcombe, MPH
Senior Director, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Laszlo Jaress, MA
Manager, Marketing & Communications

Laura Leone, DSW, MSSW, LMSW
Consultant, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Margaret Jaco Manecke
MSSW, PMP, Director, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Flannery Peterson, MPH, PMP
Director, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Pam Pietruszewski, MA
Senior Advisor, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Alexandra Plante, MA
Director, Marketing & Communications

Julia Schreiber, MPH
Director, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Amanda Stark, MPH
Project Coordinator, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Stephanie Swanson, MPH
Project Manager, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Taslim van Hattum, LCSW, MPH
Senior Director, Practice Improvement & Consulting

J’Neal Woods
Project Coordinator, Practice Improvement & Consulting

Metropolitan Group

Matt Baer
Project Manager

Kristin Gimbel
Vice President

Kevin Kirkpatrick
Senior Executive Vice President

Corrine Nakamura-Rybak
Vice President of Visual Communication

Ginelle Perez
Senior Associate

Youth Ambassadors

Seblework Alemu
Youth Ambassador

Tracy Das
Youth Ambassador

Alex Diefenbach
Youth Ambassador

Reanna Felix
Youth Ambassador

Iliana Lara
Youth Ambassador

Ayden O’Connor
Youth Ambassador

Riya Ramakrishnan
Youth Ambassador

Samantha Richter
Youth Ambassador

Elijah Seay
Youth Ambassador

Jamie Ann Visconde
Youth Ambassador

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

Dr. Loretta Jackson Brown, PhD, MSN, BSN, CNN
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Overdose Prevention

Diakima Y. Thomas-Davis, PhD, MPH
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Overdose Prevention

Parris Lloyd, MPH
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Overdose Prevention

Brooke Hoots, PhD, MSPH
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Overdose Prevention

Andrew Terranella, MD, MPH
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Overdose Prevention

Douglas R. Roehler, PhD, MPH
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Overdose Prevention

Kristin M. Holland, PhD, MPH
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Overdose Prevention

External Subject Matter Experts

Gillian Schauer, MPH, PhD
Principal
Gillian Schauer Consulting

Methodology

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), created this message guide and toolkit to support youth-serving providers in their efforts to prevent youth substance use. When developing these tools, the following activities helped ensure alignment with existing research and evidence and guidance from providers, youth and experts in the field.

The National Council is grateful to the more than 2,000 youth-serving providers and youth whose insights have informed the content of the Getting Candid: Framing the Conversation Around Youth Substance Use Prevention Message Guide and Toolkit.

Literature review and environmental scan

November 2020-January 2021
A literature review and environmental scan was conducted of data related to epidemiology and etiology of youth substance use and substance use disorder(s), youth substance use prevention and cessation campaigns and communications.
Key informant discussions

December 2020-January 2021
Ten key informant discussions took place with 22 experts in youth substance use prevention, including high school students, researchers, program directors/managers and youth-serving providers from a federal agency, non-profit organizations and public and private schools.
Online assessments

December 2020-June 2021
Initial needs assessments that informed development of the message guide and resources within the toolkit were conducted in January and February 2021. One online assessment of youth participants aged 13-18 (n=600) was conducted and weighted by demographic factors to reflect the target population of youth aged 13-18 across the United States. Another online assessment was completed by youth-serving providers (n=761). The assessments identified youths’ perceptions of risks, drivers of youth substance use, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to and delivery of youth substance use prevention services and gaps in resources for providers. A second needs assessment was conducted with youth aged 13-18 in May and June 2021 to test developed messaging and identify preferred messaging themes and language (n=681). The results from this assessment informed the final messages within the message guide.
Virtual discussion groups

March-June 2021
Two rounds of virtual discussion groups were conducted to further inform messaging and resources within the toolkit. The first explored message themes and framing with two groups of youth aged 13-18 (n=19) and three groups of providers (n=20) during March and April 2021. The second round, in June 2021, supported further message refinements based on results of the second online assessment and included two groups of youth aged 13-18 (n=15).
Expert advisory group

December 2020-May 2021
The National Council convened an expert advisory group of 13 youth, youth-serving providers, researchers and health communication experts. An orientation to the project was held in January 2021 and two subsequent convenings in February and May 2021 involved sharing learnings from the online assessments and virtual discussion groups. The convenings also sought input from expert advisors on available and existing resources, as well as gaps in resources and provider knowledge and opportunities to inform and revise the message guide and toolkit materials.

This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $2,000,000 with 100% funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government.

Getting Candid Contact Form

Name(Required)
Address(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Home
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Our Work
  • Get Involved
  • News & Events
  • Membership
  • Job Opportunities
  • Contact
Keep up to date on all things National Council.

We send regular emails about upcoming events, member spotlights and updates in mental wellbeing.

Sign Up
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Linkedin
  • Instagram

501(c)(3) nonprofit association
(EIN 23-7092671)

1400 K Street NW, Suite 400
Washington DC, 20005

202-684-7457